Nataliya Makarova's biography Return to "Meet the Artists" Nataliya Makarova Makarova was born in 1940 in Leningrad in former Soviet Russia. At the age of 12, she auditioned for the Leningrad Choreographic School (formerly the Imperial Ballet School), and was accepted although most students join the school at the age of 10. Makarova was a permanent member of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad from 1956 to 1970, achieving prima ballerina status during the 1960s. Soon after Makarova defected to the West in 1970, she began performing with the American Ballet Theatre in New York and the Royal Ballet in London. When she first arrived in the West, Makarova was eager to expand her choreography by dancing ballets by modern choreographers. At the same time, she remained most identified with classical roles such as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and Giselle. She was featured in the 1976 live American Ballet Theatre production of Swan Lake, simulcast from Lincoln Center on both PBS and NPR.

Makarova continued to excel in many different roles,most notably, her title role in Giselle. She was slim and slight, and combined a delicacy and lyricism with impeccable classical training. The History of Dance, published in 1981, notes that "Her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her as the finest ballerina of her generation in the West." In 1989, Natalia Makarova returned to her home theater of the Kirov Ballet and was reunited with her family and with former colleagues and teachers. Her emotional homecoming was documented in the film Makarova Returns. After her performance at the Kirov, she retired from dancing, donating her shoes and costumes to the Kirov Museum. Today Makarova stages ballets such as Swan Lake, La Bayadère, and Sleeping Beauty for companies across the world. In the opening week of On Your Toes at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Natalia Makarova was accidentally struck and injured during a performance. With her arm in a cast, she returned to New York, unable to finish the engagement.

To recover from this unfortunate accident and prepare for her debut on Broadway, she sought the private and personalized help of her good friends Lynn Stanford and David Howard. For more than two months, David prepared special exercizes to aid in Nataliya's recovery while Lynn created music to help her forget the pain and make her want to dance. "In Private" is the result of this extremely unique situation and contains a wonderful variety of melodies and rhythms for the ballet class. In addition to being an internationally renowned ballerina, Makarova won a Tony Award for her performance in the show On Your Toes. She appeared as Lydia Lopokova (Lady Keynes) in Wooing in Absence, compiled by Patrick Garland. It was first performed at Charleston Farmhouse and then at the Tate Britain. CD titles associated with Nataliya Makarova Order # Legendary ballerina Makarova honored in NYC Legendary ballerina Makarova honored in NYC JOCELYN NOVECK Share View photos In this April 28, 2012 image released by Jonathan Marder + Company, legendary Russian ballerina Natalia Makarova appears at a tribute to her career at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater in New York.

Dancers from around the world performed at the tribute, which was put on by the Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition. (AP Photo/Jonathan Marder + Company, Liza Voll) More NEW YORK (AP) — When people think of famous Soviet dancers who defected to the West, they recall Rudolf Nureyev, certainly, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. But there was also a formidable woman among them: Natalia Makarova, who defected in 1970 and went on to win glory for decades to come, in Europe and in the United States. Now 71, Makarova is retired of course, but she was the undisputed star over the weekend at Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater as ballet greats gathered to pay her tribute. It was part of a rare and wonderful dance weekend courtesy of the Youth America Grand Prix, a global ballet scholarship competition. It's in the nature of the art of dance that we almost never get to hear the artists speak. That's why it was a special pleasure to hear Makarova, in taped interviews broadcast on a huge screen, describe her life, interspersed with footage of her dancing.

As graceful as the dance excerpts were, it was a treat to hear her recount things that perhaps didn't go so well. She described once getting stuck in a tiny elevator lifting her to the stage; at the time, she was trying to get into the spirit of the Swan Queen. She heard the music playing without her, and finally had to break character to scream at technicians, which she ably demonstrated in the film clip. Of that swan, and other roles, she quipped: "I've danced every bird in the business." She also spoke of her mother: "I gave her lots of trouble." Makarova was to appear in the flesh only at the curtain call. First came a truly impressive parade of artists assembled by YAGP, performing bits of signature Makarova roles, or other pieces evocative of her life. It was especially striking to watch the Russian ballerina Natalia Osipova.

She has appeared in New York now for several seasons with American Ballet Theatre, but on Saturday night, it seemed clear that she was the most similar of current ballerinas to Makarova — in her talent, her build, and her potential (she already has the first name.) The sprite-like Osipova was impressively malleable in a modern piece by Mauro Bigonzetti, performed with her partner, Ivan Vasiliev, with whom she recently defected from the Bolshoi to the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. But she truly shone in "Giselle," which had been a momentous role for Makarova. Osipova was so light on her feet that she seemed to be a weightless marionette, pulled by invisible strings above.

Two other Russian ballerinas also were in radiant form: Diana Vishneva, of the Mariinsky Ballet and also ABT, who performed a deeply passionate pas de deux from "Manon" with Marcelo Gomes (not for nothing is it called the "Bedroom Pas de Deux"), and the raven-haired Ekaterina Kondaurova, also of the Mariinsky, who performed the Black Swan from "Swan Lake" and was even more impressive in a brief piece of William Forsythe's "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated." Other star performers came from the Royal Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet, and New York City Ballet, whose Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle performed a fun, high-kicking excerpt from Balanchine's "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." That, too, evoked a Makarova triumph: She had danced it in the Broadway musical "On Your Toes," for which she reinvented herself, astonishingly, as a comedienne and won a 1983 Tony Award.

The parade of stars actually began a night earlier when YAGP presented its "Stars of Today Meet Stars of Tomorrow" gala, an annual event that showcases winners of the scholarship contest, then moves on to current stars. The "future stars" included even small children, namely the impossibly cute Geraldin Getzemani Chico Valerio, 9, and Salvador David Perez Enciso, 8, from Mexico, who charmed the crowd in bright green frog outfits. The evening was full of high spirits, with many young competitors filling the seats. There are often cheering crowds at Lincoln Center, but ballet fans doing the Wave in the balcony? Not so common. Still, the high point was Makarova's appearance at the end of Saturday's show. After taking a few bows, she was hoisted into the air by ABT's Gomes and David Hallberg. Stars of the present, showering respect on an icon of the past. Reblog Natalia Makarova (Ballet Dancer) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Natalia Makarova Female Born Nov 21, 1940 Natalia Romanovna Makarova is the legendary Soviet-Russian-born prima ballerina.

The History of Dance, published in 1981, notes that âHer performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her as the finest ballerina of her generation in the West. â She has also won awards as an actress.… Read More related links Janet Sassoon's Moving Account A Life Devoted To Dance San Francisco Chronicle - Feb 07, 2014 ' Janet Sassoon nearly vibrates with energy and fervor as she describes the mad scene in the ballet \"Giselle\" while sitting comfortably in the elegant living room of the Pacific Heights home she shares with her husband, John Upton. An absolute devotion to the art of ballet has marked Sassoon\'s long career, from the moment she stepped onto the War Memorial Opera House stage in 1944 as a child extra in the opera \"Falstaff,\" through an international career with the Grand Ballet du Marquis... Phil Chan: The Lost Generation In The Audience Huffington Post - Jan 06, 2013 '\n In 1967, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev were arrested in San Francisco after attending a party where allegedly there was marijuana.

The story made the front page all over the world. At the height of their popularity, people would sleep outside Covent Garden to get any ticket they could to see this pair dance. Gelsey Kirkland was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1978, and her tell-all book Dancing on My Grave exposed the many pressures of the dance world to a wide audience for ... Watch: Honoring Their Hero Huffington Post - Dec 28, 2012 '\n After 30 years of making a nation laugh on late night TV, comedian David Letterman received the highest honor an American performer can be given at the 35th Annual Kennedy Center Honors in Washington D.C. \n\n The ceremony and show held earlier this month aired on Wednesday Dec. 26, finally showing us the touching tributes Letterman\'s comedy peers delivered at the Kennedy Center Opera House on Dec. 2. Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Ray Romano and Jimmy Kimmel honored, roasted and said ...

Media Decoder Blog: Cbs Broadcast Of Kennedy Center Honors Draws 8 Million Viewers NYTimes - Dec 27, 2012 'The ceremony, which was held at the beginning of the month, honored David Letterman, Dustin Hoffman, Buddy Guy, <mark>Natalia Makarova</mark> and the rock band Led Zeppelin. ' Natalia Makarova : definition of Natalia Makarova and synonyms of Natalia Makarova (English) 7 External links Biography Makarova was born in 1940 in Leningrad in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the USSR. At the age of 12, she auditioned for the Leningrad Choreographic School (formerly the Imperial Ballet School), and was accepted although most students join the school at the age of 10. Makarova was a permanent member of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad from 1956 to 1970, achieving prima ballerina status during the 1960s. Soon after Makarova defected to the West in 1970, she began performing with the American Ballet Theatre in New York and the Royal Ballet in London .

When she first arrived in the West, Makarova was eager to expand her choreography by dancing ballets by modern choreographers. At the same time, she remained most identified with classical roles such as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and Giselle . She was featured in the 1976 live American Ballet Theatre production of Swan Lake, simulcast from Lincoln Center on both PBS and NPR . Makarova continued to excel in many different roles, [2] most notably, her title role in Giselle . She was slim and slight, and combined a delicacy and lyricism with impeccable classical training. She danced with the likes of such fellow Russian ballet idols at Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolph Nureyev . In 1989, Natalia Makarova returned to her home theater of the Kirov Ballet and was reunited with her family and with former colleagues and teachers. Her emotional homecoming was documented in the film Makarova Returns. After her performance at the Kirov, she retired from dancing, donating her shoes and costumes to the Kirov Museum.

Today Makarova stages ballets such as Swan Lake , La Bayadère , and Sleeping Beauty for companies across the world. She retired from dancing due to accumulating injuries, especially to her knees. In addition to being an internationally renowned ballerina, Makarova won a Tony Award for her performance in the show On Your Toes . She appeared as Lydia Lopokova (Lady Keynes) in Wooing in Absence, compiled by Patrick Garland . It was first performed at Charleston Farmhouse and then at the Tate Britain . Personal life In 1976 Makarova married industrialist Edward Karkar. Together they have a son, Andrei Mikhail, born February 1978. [3] Awards 1960’s – Russian Soviet Federation Socialist Republic Merited Artist 1965 – Varna International Ballet Competition – Gold Medal 1970 – Anna Pavlova Prize & Critic’s Award, Paris 1977 – Dance Magazine Award 1979 – Mother of the Year Award 1980 – A Dance Autobiography, Knopf Publishers, 1979.

– Certificate of Excellence – American Institute of Graphic Arts – Selected for Exhibition 1983 – Tony Award Best Actress in a Musical – On Your Toes (Broadway) 1983 – Drama Desk Award – On Your Toes (Broadway) 1983 – Theatre World Award – On Your Toes (Broadway) 1983 – Astaire Award – On Your Toes (Broadway) 1983 – Outer Critics Circle Award – On Your Toes (Broadway) 1983 – Stanislavsky Award – On Your Toes (Broadway) 1984 – Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical – On Your Toes, London 1985 – London Evening Standard Award – for the Best Performance of 1985 in the ballet Onegin.

Presented on stage by Princess Diana after Makarova’s performance of Onegin in 1986, London 1986 – Emmy Award Nomination for Ballerina a 4 Part Documentary TV series, which was conceived, written & narrated by Makarova, BBC London/WNET 1991/92 – American Library Association Award – for Makarova’s recordings of the stories Snow Maiden, The Frog Princess & Firebird – Delos Records 1993 – Distinguished Artist Award – Los Angeles 2000 – Artistic Achievement Award – Mexico 2004 – Artistic Achievement Award from the School of American Ballet Work Repertoire As Permanent Guest Artist with American Ballet Theatre & the Royal Ballet her repertoire included: American Ballet Theatre: Lilac Garden; Dark Elegies; Romeo & Juliet & Pillar of Fire; Theme & Variations & Apollo; La Bayadère ; Kingdom of the Shades; Coppelia ; Voluntaries; Fille Mal Gardee ; La Sylphide ; Don Quixote; Nutcracker; Raymonda Act 3; Contredances; Sacre du Printemps (Tetley); Firebird ; Concerto; Gis

elle ; Swan Lake ; Romeo & Juliet (MacMillan); Sleeping Beauty , Les Sylphides , Other Dances ; Epilogue; Miraculous Mandarin ; Pas de Quatre ; The River; Études ; Moor's Pavane ; Romeo & Juliet Pas de Deux (Tchernishov); Desir & Wild Boy.

Royal Ballet: - Manon ; Song of the Earth; A Month in the Country ; Concerto; Cinderella; Voluntaries; Dances at a Gathering ; Serenade; Elite Syncopations; Month in the Country; Concerto; Checkmate; Les Biches ; Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet; Swan Lake, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Les Sylphides, Van Manen’s Adagio Hammerklavier; MacMillan Pas de Deux & Ashton’s Dream Pas de Deux.

As Guest Artist with ballet companies throughout the world her repertoire included: the classical repertoire (Giselle, Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, La Sylphide) and Onegin (Cranko); Notre Dame de Paris, Carmen, Proust, Le Jeune Homme et la Mort (Petit); Romeo and Juliet (Cranko), Swan Lake (Cranko), Neumeier’s Illusions - Like Swan Lake 2nd Act, Bach Sonata (Bejart); Nutcracker (Neumeier); Romeo & Juliet (full-length version Tchernishov); Le Rossignol (Ashton); Rosalinda (Hynd); Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (Balanchine); Apparitions (Ashton); Afternoon of a Faun (Robbins); Meditation (Haigen) The Real McCoy (Feld) The Lesson (Flindt), The Toreador (Bourneville); Dying Swan; Corsaire Pas de Deux & Don Quixote Pas de Deux.

Original productions staged and directed by Makarova 1974 – Kingdom of the Shades – American Ballet Theatre 1988 – Swan Lake – London Festival Ballet 1989 – La Bayadère – Royal Swedish Ballet 1989 – La Bayadère – Royal Ballet – Covent Garden – London 1991 – Paquita – National Ballet of Canada 1991 – Paquita - Universal Ballet Company of Seoul, Korea 1992 – La Bayadère – La Scala Ballet 1992 – La Bayadère – Teatro Colon, Argentina 1997 – La Bayadère – Finnish National Ballet 1997 – La Bayadère – Ballet de Santiago, Chile 1998 – La Bayadère – Australian Ballet 2000 – Kingdom of the Shades – San Francisco Ballet 2000 – Giselle – Royal Swedish Ballet 2000 – La Bayadère – Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro 2001 – Swan Lake – Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro 2002 – La Bayadère – Hamburg Ballet 2003 – Sleeping Beauty – Royal Ballet

 – Covent Garden – London 2002 – Paquita – San Francisco Ballet 2004 – La Bayadère – Theatr Wieki Opera Narodowa, Warsaw, Poland 2005 – Swan Lake – Perm Ballet Russia 2007 – La Bayadère – Dutch National Ballet 2007 – Swan Lake – National Ballet of China 2008 – La Bayadère – Corella Ballet, Teatro Real, Madrid 2009 – La Bayadère – Tokyo Ballet Filmography 1970 – BBC-TV – Black Swan Pas de Deux with Rudolf Nureyev & Dying Swan 1976 – Swan Lake with Ivan Nagy at the Metropolitan Opera House – Live from Lincoln Center – American Ballet Theatre.

1976 – Don Quixote Pas de deux & Giselle Act 2 (Partner Baryshnikov) BBC TV London. 1977 – Giselle with Mikhail Baryshnikov at the Metropolitan Opera House – Live From Lincoln Center - American Ballet Theatre 1978 – Don Quixote Pas de Deux with Fernando Bujones at the Metropolitan Opera House – Live From Lincoln Center – American Ballet Theatre.

1978 – Jerome Robbin’s Other Dances with Mikhail Baryshnikov - WNET 1979 – Assoluta – Natalia Makarova – BBC TV, London 1979 – The Magic of Dance 1980 – Makarova’s production of La Bayadère with Anthony Dowell at the Metropolitan Opera House - Live from Lincoln Center – American Ballet Theatre 1980 – Swan Lake with Anthony Dowell – Royal Ballet, Thames TV, London 1981 – The President's Command Performance– The Inaugural Gala Performance for President Elect Ronald Reagan, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC 1983 – Stars Salute the President – Ford Theatre, Washington, DC (For President Reagan) 1984 – Gala of the Stars– Proust (Petit) with Richard Cragun & Begin the Beguine (Gennaro) with Cryst, WNET, Radio City, New York 1985 – Natasha - Natalia Makarova – National Video Corporation/Kultur USA 1985 – American Ballet Theater in San Francisco– National Video Corp.

1985 – In a Class of Her Own– Natalia Makarova – THAMES TV – London 1985 – American Ballet Theatre at the Met– Makarova’s PAQUITA filmed at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York 1986 – Ballerina– 4 Part series for BBC TV 1988 – The First International Erik Bruhn Competition – Guest Appearance by Natalia Makarova 1988 – Reunion With the Kirov Ballet - White Swan with Zaklinsky – BBC London live Broadcast 1988 – Romeo & Juliet (MacMillan) with Kevin Mckenzie at the Metropolitan Opera House – Live from Lincoln Center – American Ballet Theatre.

1989 – Makarova Returns – BBC-TV, London/Kultur, USA 1989 – Lenningrad Legend – BBC-TV Omnibus,London/ Kultur USA 1989 – Swan Lake – Natalia Makarova’s Production for London Festival Ballet 1991 – La Bayadère – Natalia Makarova’s Production for the Royal Ballet – From Covent Garden – Cameras Continentales, Amaya & Thames 1991 – A Portrait of Giselle 1994 – BBC Great Railway Journeys– St. Petersburg to Tashkent - Written & Presented by Natalia Makarova 2007 – La Bayadère – Natalia Makarova’s production for La Scala Ballet, Milan. 2009 – La Bayadère – Natalia Makarova’s production for the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, London.

2011 – Natalia Makarova Two Lives - Russian Documentary See also Legendary ballerina Makarova honored in NYC - Yahoo Legendary ballerina Makarova honored in NYC By JOCELYN NOVECK April 30, 2012 5:58 PM  View gallery In this April 28, 2012 image released by Jonathan Marder + Company, legendary Russian ballerina Natalia … NEW YORK (AP) — When people think of famous Soviet dancers who defected to the West, they recall Rudolf Nureyev, certainly, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. But there was also a formidable woman among them: Natalia Makarova, who defected in 1970 and went on to win glory for decades to come, in Europe and in the United States. Now 71, Makarova is retired of course, but she was the undisputed star over the weekend at Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater as ballet greats gathered to pay her tribute. It was part of a rare and wonderful dance weekend courtesy of the Youth America Grand Prix, a global ballet scholarship competition.

It's in the nature of the art of dance that we almost never get to hear the artists speak. That's why it was a special pleasure to hear Makarova, in taped interviews broadcast on a huge screen, describe her life, interspersed with footage of her dancing. As graceful as the dance excerpts were, it was a treat to hear her recount things that perhaps didn't go so well. She described once getting stuck in a tiny elevator lifting her to the stage; at the time, she was trying to get into the spirit of the Swan Queen. She heard the music playing without her, and finally had to break character to scream at technicians, which she ably demonstrated in the film clip. Of that swan, and other roles, she quipped: "I've danced every bird in the business." She also spoke of her mother: "I gave her lots of trouble." View gallery In this April 28, 2012 image released by Jonathan Marder + Company, legendary Russian ballerina Nata … Makarova was to appear in the flesh only at the curtain call.

First came a truly impressive parade of artists assembled by YAGP, performing bits of signature Makarova roles, or other pieces evocative of her life. It was especially striking to watch the Russian ballerina Natalia Osipova. She has appeared in New York now for several seasons with American Ballet Theatre, but on Saturday night, it seemed clear that she was the most similar of current ballerinas to Makarova — in her talent, her build, and her potential (she already has the first name.) The sprite-like Osipova was impressively malleable in a modern piece by Mauro Bigonzetti, performed with her partner, Ivan Vasiliev, with whom she recently defected from the Bolshoi to the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. But she truly shone in "Giselle," which had been a momentous role for Makarova. Osipova was so light on her feet that she seemed to be a weightless marionette, pulled by invisible strings above.

Two other Russian ballerinas also were in radiant form: Diana Vishneva, of the Mariinsky Ballet and also ABT, who performed a deeply passionate pas de deux from "Manon" with Marcelo Gomes (not for nothing is it called the "Bedroom Pas de Deux"), and the raven-haired Ekaterina Kondaurova, also of the Mariinsky, who performed the Black Swan from "Swan Lake" and was even more impressive in a brief piece of William Forsythe's "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated." View gallery In this April 28, 2012 image released by Jonathan Marder + Company, legendary Russian ballerina Nata … Other star performers came from the Royal Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet, and New York City Ballet, whose Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle performed a fun, high-kicking excerpt from Balanchine's "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." That, too, evoked a Makarova triumph: She had danced it in the Broadway musical "On Your Toes," for which she reinvented herself, astonishingly, as a comedienne and won a 1983 Tony Award.

The parade of stars actually began a night earlier when YAGP presented its "Stars of Today Meet Stars of Tomorrow" gala, an annual event that showcases winners of the scholarship contest, then moves on to current stars. The "future stars" included even small children, namely the impossibly cute Geraldin Getzemani Chico Valerio, 9, and Salvador David Perez Enciso, 8, from Mexico, who charmed the crowd in bright green frog outfits. The evening was full of high spirits, with many young competitors filling the seats. There are often cheering crowds at Lincoln Center, but ballet fans doing the Wave in the balcony? Not so common. Still, the high point was Makarova's appearance at the end of Saturday's show. After taking a few bows, she was hoisted into the air by ABT's Gomes and David Hallberg. Stars of the present, showering respect on an icon of the past. Dance CHRONICLE - NYTimes.com CHRONICLE By SUSAN HELLER ANDERSON Published: July 31, 1991 NATALIA MAKAROVA, the 50-year-old ballerina, is starring in her first dramatic stage role.

She received good notices when she made her debut last week at the Chichester Festival. Once a dancer at the Kirov Ballet, from which she defected in 1970, Miss Makarova has appeared with the world's leading ballet companies. She won a Tony Award in New York in 1983 as best actress for her role in the musical "On Your Toes." In "Tovarich," a play by Jacques Deval, she plays a grand duchess "with great verve," said The Financial Times. The Evening Standard said: "The feat is without precedent. This supreme dancer had made the leap into dramatic theater and achieved it in a language not her own." Miss Makarova said she is considering other roles, mostly in Russian plays. After its Chichester run ends Sept. 27, "Tovarich" will tour and is scheduled for the West End in London. It is directed by PATRICK GARLAND, who also heads the festival.

'CATS' AND 'TORCH SONG TRILOGY' WIN TOP TONYS - NYTimes.com 'CATS' AND 'TORCH SONG TRILOGY' WIN TOP TONYS By CAROL LAWSON Published: June 6, 1983 ''Cats,'' the British musical that was the most popular show of the Broadway season, led last night's Tony Awards with seven prizes, including the one for best musical. But in a surprise choice, Harvey Fierstein's ''Torch Song Trilogy'' was named best play of the 1982-83 season, and Mr. Fierstein, who is also the star of the play, won a Tony for his performance. The 37th annual presentation of the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards, which are Broadway's equivalent of Hollywood's Academy Awards, took place before a packed audience of the theater establishment at the Uris Theater, which was renamed the Gershwin at the end of the evening. Awards were presented in 19 categories. Besides being named best musical, ''Cats'' won awards for best director, featured actress, book, score, costumes and lighting. Second Tony for Mr.

Nunn Trevor Nunn, the director of ''Cats,'' picked up his second Tony in two years. Last year he won as best director for the Royal Shakespeare Company's epic production, ''Nicholas Nickleby.'' Mr. Nunn is artistic director of the company. He first staged ''Cats'' two years ago in London, where it is a big hit, and then recast it here with American actors. ''All I suppose I can do at this moment is to purr,'' he said with a big grin as he accepted his award. ''Cats'' arrived on Broadway last October with a blaze of publicity and a huge advance sale. The top ticket price for nearly all performances is $45 - the highest on Broadway. The production cost $5 million, also a Broadway record. Based on T.S. Eliot's 1939 ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats,'' a volume of light verse, ''Cats'' is made up of songs about a menagerie of feline characters. The Winter Garden Theater, where it is playing, has been transformed into a spectacular nocturnal junkyard for Eliot's flighty ''jellicle'' cats.

John Napier, the designer, has filled every nook and cranny with a Red Groomesque collage of outsized rubbish, as seen from a cat's perspective. David Hersey won a Tony for his dazzling lighting, which extends throughout the theater, and Mr. Napier received a prize for his furry costumes. T.S. Eliot, who died in 1965 and is not known to have harbored an ambition to write a Broadway musical, won a Tony for best book of a musical and shared the award for best score with Andrew Lloyd Weber, who wrote the music for ''Cats.'' Eliot's widow, who accepted his award for best book, said, ''More than 30 years ago my husband received a Tony Award for his 'Cocktail Party.' This award would give my husband special pleasure.'' Eliot Writings Eligible The Tony Eligibility Committee ruled that Eliot's writings about cats were eligible for awards because they have not been performed previously in the theater. Mr. Weber took note of the fact that the orchestra played ''Memory,'' the hit song from the show, every time ''Cats'' won an award. ''I'm a bit worried,'' he said.

''We seem to be a one-tune show.'' Betty Buckley, who sings ''Memory,'' won the award for best featured actress in a musical. ''Torch Song Trilogy'' is a four-hour drama that tells the story of Arnold Beckoff, a nice Jewish boy of ''great wit and want'' who also happens to be a homosexual and a transvestite who makes his living by appearing on stage. ''Everybody was so scared that I was going to say something embarrassing to all of you,'' said the smiling Mr. Fierstein, who had a tough time getting his play produced. It originated in 1978 as a series of one-act plays at the tiny La Mama theater and was later presented as a trilogy Off Broadway. When it moved to Broadway last summer, few people predicted that the play would last long with uptown audiences. ''Torch Song Trilogy'' won over the two dramas that were thought to be the leading contenders for best play -''Plenty,'' the widely praised drama by the British playwright David Hare, and '' 'Night, Mother,'' Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a woman who announces she is going to commit suicide.

Jessica Tandy a Winner Jessica Tandy was named best actress in a play for her performance as an independent-minded Appalachian widow in ''Foxfire,'' and received a standing ovation. She thanked the authors Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn, who is her husband and co-starred with her. It was the third Tony for Miss Tandy, who will be 74 years old tomorrow. ''On Your Toes,'' the 1936 Rodgers-and-Hart musical, was named best revival. And Natalia Makarova, the Russian ballerina who is making her Broadway debut as the star of the show, was named best actress in a musical. Miss Makarova, who defected from Leningrad's Kirov Ballet in 1970, was seriously injured when a pipe fell on her during the tryout of ''On Your Toes'' in Washington, and there were fears that she might never dance again. She is still undergoing physical therapy for a broken shoulder blade. ''God must know what he is doing,'' Miss Makarova said in her heavy accent in the longest and funniest acceptance speech of the evening. ''First he hit me on the head. Now he give me all this excitement.

I believe in happy endings.'' 1 Famous Ballerinas - BalletHub Famous Ballerinas There are many amazing ballerinas in the world, but there’s only a handful of truly famous ballerinas. Here’s BalletHub’s list of famous ballerinas, in no particular order because they’re all amazing in their own right: Margot Fonteyn Margot Fonteyn with Rudolf Nureyev, performing the title roles in Romeo and Juliet. Photo: unknown Margot Fonteyn may be the all-time most famous ballerina in the world; the Babe Ruth of ballet. Fonteyn was born in May of 1919 in England and began ballet classes at age four. She had a long career with The Royal Ballet and was soon to retire at age 42 until Rudolf Nureyev appeared on the scene. To his encouragement, she continued dancing and partnered with Nureyev until she eventually retired at 61. Together, they debuted MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet and had the ballet “Marguerite and Armand” choreographed specifically for them by Sir Frederick Ashton.

She has also appeared in many ballet videos available for purchase online, including Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty and more. She died at the age of 71 in February of 1991 in Panama, leaving an incredibly huge mark on the world of ballet having danced thousands of performances to rave and adoring audiences. The name Margot Fonteyn is usually the first brought up in a discussion of famous ballerinas. Alicia Alonso Alicia Alonso performing Odile in Swan Lake Alicia Alonso is a famous ballerina born in Cuba in 1921. At the young age of nineteen, she began to lose some of her vision and became partially blind, even after a few surgeries to attempt to restore vision. This affliction did not stop her from becoming a principal dancer with American Ballet Theater (then, simply Ballet Theatre) and receiving rave reviews for her portrayal of Giselle, among other roles. To help with only being able to partially see out of one eye, she required partners to always be in exact positions and also had set designers install different colored spotlights to act as guides while she performed on stage.

Despite her handicap, she wow’d audiences for years before returning to Cuba to found the National Ballet of Cuba in 1959. She performed extensively throughout the world and has definitely earned a spot in our list of famous ballerinas. Julie Kent Julie Kent Julie Kent makes our famous ballerinas list for many reasons. Not only is she a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, she has also appeared in several ballet videos and motion pictures including the film “Dancers” co-staring with her former director, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and a role in the ballet-hit “Center Stage.” Julie Kent is a true ballerina in all of sense of the title; beautifully classical port de bras and lines with strength to match. Now retiring in the 2014-15 season at ABT, she has dance professionally for almost thirty years. She was born “Julie Cox” and took the stage name Julie Kent at the suggestion of Baryshnikov. Sylvie Guillem Sylvie Guillem, a famous ballerina, performing Grande Pas Classique You can’t talk about famous ballerinas without talking about Sylvie Guillem.

Born in 1965 in France, Guillem had an early rise to stardom, joining Paris Opera Ballet at the age of 16 as a corps de ballet member being promoted to the top position of étoile, the youngest ever in the company’s history, in 1984 by the company’s then-director Rudolf Nureyev after a performance of Swan Lake. In 1989 she became a freelance performer and international star, also dancing with Royal Ballet as a principal guest artist. Aside from several awards including winning the gold medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition in 1983 and the Nijinsky prize for “world’s best ballerina” in 2001, she is also known for her amazing technical ability and seemingly perfect body built for ballet with long, sculpted legs, high-arched feet and exceptional extensions with strength to match. Sylvie is adored by fans worldwide and still performs in contemporary pieces throughout the world.

Natalia Makarova Natalia Makarova One of the finest Russian ballerinas, Natalia Makarova, had a performing career that spanned the globe, starting with the Kirov Ballet in 1956. In the 1960s, she was deemed a prima ballerina and later defected while on tour with the company in London. She began performing with American Ballet Theatre, alongside recently the defected Mikhail Baryshnikov, and with the Royal Ballet in London. She quickly became one of the most prominent and famous ballerinas dancing in the West with audiences rushing to see her most notable roles, such as Giselle and Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. She also performed in the broadway musical “On Your Toes,” which she won a Tony Award, among others awards. As a dancer, and continuing after her retirement from the stage, she staged ballets for many of the most famous ballet companies and has been a judge for prestigious ballet competitions. Throughout her career, she’s received over 20 awards, including the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012.

Gelsey Kirkland Gelsey Kirkland dancing with Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Nutcracker A famous American ballerina, Gelsey Kirkland joined New York City Ballet at the young age of fifteen and was promoted to principal rank in just four years by 1972. Just two years later, with Baryshnikov just defecting, she joined American Ballet Theatre to dance with him as a principal where they would dance for constantly sold out audiences. Throughout her career at NYCB and ABT, she had many ballets created on her by Balanchine and Jerome Robbins as well as danced practically every major classical ballet role. She’s released a two autobiographies about her life titled “Dancing on my Grave,” and “The Shape of Love,” that detail her struggles with eating disorders and drug abuse. She is likely most recognized by the general public as dancing Clara in the 1977 production and taping of Baryshnikov’s “The Nutcracker” which has been watched by the thousands. Currently, she is a co-director of her own ballet school in New York City, the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet.

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlova, a famous Russian Ballerina A list of famous ballerinas isn’t complete without Anna Pavlova. As a principal dancer with the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballet Russes, she is most known for dancing the iconic role “The Dying Swan,” a short solo made for her by famed choreographer Michel Fokine. She began ballet after watching a live performance of Petipa’s original production of “The Sleeping Beauty” and she began taking classes at age ten, after a first failed attempt at being accepted to the Imperial Ballet School. Ballet came very difficult to the young Pavlova, however after several years at the school, she was invited to join the Imperial Ballet as a coyphée, skipping the rank of corps de ballet. Her career quickly sky-rocketed and she became a leading ballerina with the company; her scores of fans called themselves “Pavlovatzi.” In the early 1920s, she would become the first ballerina to tour around the world and earning worldwide recognition among famous ballerinas everywhere.

Question: Which ballerina who defected to the West in 1970 won a Tony Award for her Broadway performance in 'On Your Toes' in 1983?
Answer: NATALIA MAKAROVA